Before we whisk you away into “Once Upon A Time,” let us remind everyone what Ever After Entertainment does.

They provide an experience like no other as they bring magic to a celebration. Whether it is a princess, a fairytale character, superhero, or star wars character, they bring it to your front door to make the believers believe that dreams come true.

“We believe in making dreams come true by inspiring the imagination of children, both young and young at heart.” – Ever After Entertainment

Now it is time for our exclusive scoop with Stefanie who encompasses all qualities that one would admire in a princess. She is kind, intelligent, and a strong woman and you will see that from our interview.

Once Upon A Time…

When and what inspired you to start Ever After Entertainment?

I started Ever After Entertainment right after I finished an intensive two year musical theatre conservatory in New York City, called Circle in the Square Theatre School. I adored musical theatre and performing, so when I heard that some of my classmates worked for similar companies in the states, I was immediately inspired to start something of my own. I have always loved anything to do with Disney Princesses! I grew up on all the movies, so performing as a classic princess seemed like the perfect fit!

Owner and founder, Stefanie, in the centre of some amazing Princesses (Belle, Ariel, Cinderella and Aurora).

What was the first year like?

The first years was super tough – for the first six months, the phones were quiet. I didn’t really know where to start and I was relying on “old school methods” of marketing to get my name out in the community, and that just was not working for me. As soon as I started to figure out what type of advertising worked, business began to pick up, and it picked up fast! It was definitely an exciting time when the phones started ringing, but I quickly realized that no one was going to knock on my door and ask me to come to their party. When we were just starting out, I had to go out and do free events to market Ever After Entertainment. Anything from school events, city fairs and free birthday parties – if there was someone who wanted a princess, I was there!

Who has been your most popular character request?

Elsa…Elsa and Elsa! As soon as Frozen came out, “Elsa” or the “Ice Queen” was the most requested character. We had to hire 5 performers in 1 month just to keep up! Now as the Frozen craze has died down a little, some of the more classically loved princesses are becoming more popular. My personal favourites are Beauty and The Little Mermaid – both are requested regularly.

Why is providing a magical experience important to you?

I’ve been a huge Disney Princess fan since I was three years old and I discovered The Little Mermaid. I would eat, sleep and breath everything Ariel! I know that if I had the opportunity to have Ariel attend my birthday party as a child, that would have made my year! Knowing that we can make a child’s dreams come true by bringing their hero to life, means so much to me. These princess characters teach children lessons about family, friends, passion and love, and we are so lucky that we get to bring those lessons and magic to people’s families and homes.

How do you find the perfect person to play the part?

All of Ever After Entertainment’s princess performers are professionally trained actors and singers. We want our performers to not only look like the princesses they are portraying, but they also must embody their personality and be able to sing all their signature songs. Our cast is filled with a diverse group of wonderfully talented ladies from all over the GTA – but they all must have a love for children, and of course, a love for princesses!

Where would you like to see Ever After Entertainment in the next five years?

I would love to see Ever After Entertainment grow across Ontario. Ideally we would love to have performers in all different regions across Southern Ontario, so that we can provide a magical birthday experience to children and their families all over the GTA.

Who is your favourite Princess to play?

It’s so hard to choose! I think if I had to pick one, it would be Ariel. I mean, what girl doesn’t want to be a mermaid?! I just love Ariel’s songs, and story – and it’s so much fun to be a red head. Like I said earlier, The Little Mermaid was my most beloved movie growing up, so she is of course my favourite princess to portray!

This is how Ever After Entertainment got it’s “Once Upon A Time” and some more inside scoops of this impeccable company. Special thank you to Stefanie for giving us the opportunity to interview her as it was a true honor.

We at Momma Braga can’t say it enough that Ever After Entertainment is truly the very best! Once you book with them you can rest assure that your celebration will be that much better! They truly pride themselves of staying authentic and professional from beginning to end. It is a magical experience for all and you won’t regret having them there.

“A magical trip that will be remembered forever” – Momma Braga

If you ask any of my friends and family to tell you something about me, the most common answer would be my love for Disney. Even before becoming a mother, I was always a fan and made sure to buy the latest Disney movie that would come out. I had quit a collection before my daughter was born and the collection keeps growing with the new additions that are released. So it was no surprise that I always dreamt of visiting Disney World.

Back in 2012, my husband wanted to take a trip for our five year wedding anniversary and my request was to visit Disney World. My husband always wanted to go and see what it was all about so he happily agreed and I was the happiest person in the world. Since it appeared at the time that children were not in our very recent future, we decided this would be the best time to experience this as a couple.

The Planning

I am a planner so it is no surprise that I had to plan our vacation and do all my research beforehand. Once our trip was booked, I took it a step further and checked out what was happening at the different parks while we were there. This way I knew which park to go to on what day. We also booked tickets to see Cirque du Soleil in advance to make sure we enjoyed everything we possibly could while we were there. I even booked our dinners at some of the restaurants to ensure that we meet some of the characters that we wanted to meet. On our list of must see was Donald Duck for my husband and Winnie-The-Pooh for me (I just love him!).

My husband and his favorite, Donald Duck.

Our Arrival & Accommodations

The day finally arrived to make my childhood dream come true. It honestly felt so surreal to be going and I was so excited that I couldn’t eat. When we arrived in Orlando Florida, I was like a kid in a candy store. My eyes wide open and full of excitement of what I was going to experience. The Disney bus came to pick us up at the airport to take us to our Disney resort hotel (this is booked when you book your tickets) which added to the magic for me. Since I picked most of the trip, my husband was responsible to pick the hotel and the room we stayed in. He picked the Disney Caribbean Resort and we had the Pirates of the Caribbean Room. We had to go all out Disney!

We truly enjoyed our accommodations as the staff were friendly, the rooms were clean and the food was great.

The Magic of Disney World

The Disney movies that I watched was so full of magic and it is one of the reasons that I love them dearly. They provided me with the aspiration that anything and everything is possible if you just believe. By being at Disney World it allowed me to feel this magic in person. Maybe it was the experience of meeting the characters who are played beautifully by the right person who stays in complete character in front of you. Maybe it was experiencing the thrill of the attractions. Maybe it was seeing the parades and hearing the classic songs from every Disney classic movie. Maybe it was seeing the nightly fireworks. Or maybe it was the opportunity to live out my childhood dream that made it magical for me.

I remember how excited I got when Princess Belle waved at me from the parade float and I turned to my husband and said, “Oh my god! Belle just waved at me!” My husband couldn’t help but giggle as he said he saw my childlike self-explode with happiness. But it didn’t prepare him on how excited I would be to meet Winnie-The-Pooh at Hollywood Studios. I waited in line with all the other children who were accompanied by their parents as Winnie was on a short break. As soon as he arrived, my heart started to beat really fast and I couldn’t believe I was going to hug an adult sized Pooh Bear! I approached Winnie and since they are not able to speak to stay in character, he used hand motions to communicate with me. A staff member assisted in translating as I was so excited that I couldn’t comprehend any of the hand motions. So Winnie-The-Pooh pointed out that I had a Winnie bear keychain on my bag and hand motioned that I had a baby Pooh Bear. Excitedly I said, “Oh yes! I love Pooh Bear!” I got a “Love You too!” motion and a great big hug. Yup! This moment made my life!

So why did these particular little moments make me feel special? It was because I was able to feel like a child again without a worry in the world. Children have such a positive imagination, aspirations and dreams without ever doubting themselves. This is what I loved feeling again as it seems that sometimes we lose these feelings as we grow up and sometimes we need to feel like a child again to remember them again.

The whole trip was just an amazing experience for the both of us as my husband secretly (not anymore a secret) enjoyed it as much as I did. However, I think the best part was to share this first experience with my husband as we celebrated our five year wedding anniversary.

Of course my daughter Nikki is loving Disney as much as I do and we will be saving to hopefully be able to take her one day to experience what her momma experienced a bit later in life. However, I always say it is better late than never! 😉

If you have gone to Disney World with your family, what have you enjoyed the most? Leave your comment below as I would love to read it!